By Steve Rhodes
“The City Council will move quickly to empower Chicago’s inspector general to investigate alleged hiring abuses by aldermen to bolster the city’s case to get out from under the Shakman decree, an influential alderman said today,” the Sun-Times reports.
“But, Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd) said aldermen are so divided about Mayor Daley’s plan to give the inspector general more sweeping investigative authority over the City Council, a seven-member subcommittee has been appointed to sort it out . . .
“Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin (34th) is in the ‘do-nothing’ camp.
“‘Why the hell do we need an inspector general breathing down our necks? To do what? We’re already cautious as hell. And we have nothing to do with hiring,’ Austin said.”
Really?
“A stealth payroll loaded with friends, relatives and political operatives of Chicago aldermen appears to violate a ban on political hiring and was not revealed to the federal court overseeing city hiring, the court-appointed monitor concluded Monday,” the Tribune reports.
Talk to the hand, Carrie.
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I know that phrase is really old by now, but that’s what came to me.
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Meanwhile . . .
“The trial of a developer accused of bribing former Chicago Ald. Isaac ‘Ike’ Carothers will begin Tuesday after a federal appeals court turned down a last-minute motion to block the testimony of the developer’s former lawyer.”
It Never Ends
“Mayor Eric Kellogg had to like his chances when Harvey Public School District 152 voted to select a new superintendent,” the Tribune reports.
“Of the school board members who voted 4-2 for Kellogg to lead the district, one is his sister, one is his cousin and two are on the city payroll, working under Kellogg.”
It Takes One To Know One
If Mayor Daley read the Beachwood, he’d have known that Boy Scout Pat Quinn is an untrustworthy liar.
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Advice to Daley: Don’t borrow Quinn’s Super 8 card.
A Life Not Well-Lived
“Brother of alderman prosecuted Lenny Bruce, represented Fred Roti.”
Calling On Cullerton
Our Intrepid Citizen tries again. See the latest appended update.
Gothic Schmothic
Jeff Huebner is not amused. See his comment revealing the story behind the giant American Gothic people who just left town.
He Is A Security Guard
“I resisted the urge to shove his face through the door. Instead, I called the police.”
This Day In Beachwood History
“Paging Jerry Angelo . . . Paging Jerry Angelo . . . Please pick up a white courtesy telephone, give us a call and tell us why on God’s green (soon) earth you aren’t signing anyone?” our very own Jim Coffman wrote a year ago. “Please?”
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Operators standing by.
Posted on March 9, 2010